Tag: Baking

I am a big fan of Stuart Mclean and The Vinyl Cafe. I love Stuart’s gift for storytelling, the way he uses his natural folksiness and love of the small moment to tell a story that we feel we have already lived ourselves. His appreciation of Canada, of small towns, and most importantly humour. In some of my blogs you can hear my tone mimic his – but Stuart’s voice is uniquely his own.

In my kitchen growing up, there were three main food preparation areas. One is to the left of the kitchen sink that is covered by a wooden cutting board. This area – even now – is by far the busiest area. Food is chopped on the cutting board, dirty dishes sit here awaiting the dishwasher unload (which was my chore growing up, so some times there was a bit of a wait), and quick meals are eaten from it. It is constantly wiped and cleaned. Over the dishwasher is the second area where the electric frying pan is plugged in when it is time for grilled cheese and the toaster and coffee maker. I distinctly remember making Easter Nests and Baklava with my mother at this spot. Who makes baklava with their non-greek mother? I did. I called the layers dirt, paper and glue (the nuts, the phyllo and the butter/honey mixture).

The other space that is not really there any more, is to the left of the fridge. It’s there obviously, but now is taken up by the microwave. It is where I remember my dad kneading bread, rolling pastry and for some reason I remember clearly – making Tomato Pinwheels from the Fleischman’s Bread Baking Cookbook. I remember so well because he was so frustrated rolling out the dough. You needed to roll it to certain dimensions, cut it, and then create the pinwheels. But it kept shrinking. And he was getting upset. I don’t remember if they tasted good or not, I just remember thinking “How is it possible that my dad can’t do something?”

Today I thought of home and these memories and wanted to bake. But baking does not really fit with the lifestyle changes we have made. So, I took to the internet and found myself a low-carb and low-calorie recipe for Pumpkin Coconut Muffins. The flour used was coconut flour – what the heck is that? – apparently it’s made from ground coconut meat and is also defatted to remove much of the coconut oil and milk. I wonder if the Bulk Barn carries it? And my lucky day – in the huge gluten-free section – they did. It smelled pleasingly like suntan lotion and it was cream coloured. Not too expensive either.

May 2nd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Mini yummy muffins that only have 31 calories each with 1 grams of fibre and 2 grams of protein in each. Though, I would not recommend using rock salt instead of kosher salt – makes for a some unexpected saltiness at times. I like this coconut flour stuff.

Maintenance May Day 2:
$25 Micro-loan via Kiva to Folly Loko in Togo, Africa to purchase a washing machine and iron for his laundry business. Emile’s choice. (Soul)
$25 Micro-loan via Kiva to Adama in Mali to purchase scrap metal to support his metal working business. He is a married father of two in his thirties – like my dad was when he died. (Family)
Supported Hariyo Chowk via kickstarter.com with $25 to help create an urban green space in Katmandu. Reward is my Dad’s name on a hand painted mural in the park once completed. (Family)
Supported Flyover Farm via kickstarter.com with $10 to help create a rooftop garden in Mumbai, India to help provide organic produce in a low-income area. Reward is my Dad’s name on their facebook page as a donor. (Connection)